Family Law

Divorcing Parties Place Choice of Religion Clause in Their Divorce Agreement

Divorcing parents decide that they want to put the following clause in their agreed divorce decree:

“Based upon the express agreement of the parties that the minor children be raised in
the Protestant faith, the Court orders that each party hereto is enjoined from
promoting another religious belief system/faith to the minor children unless both
parties should consent.”

Subsequent to the divorce, father decided he wanted to raise the children according to the LDS (Latter Day Saints) religion. Mother filed a motion for contempt citing that father was violating the divorce decree because he was promoting a religious belief system that is not protestant. The trial court found that the LDS religion is not a protestant faith and found father in contempt. Father appealed.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision. The parties had freely agreed to add this clause to their divorce decree, which in essence created a contract between them. The trial court was simply enforcing an agreement (and a religion preference clause) that the parties themselves had chosen to place in their divorce decree. A violation of that clause was therefore contempt.

Here’s the link…
http://courts.arkansas.gov/court_opinions/coa/2008b/20081008/published/ca08-193.pdf

Full post as published by Kevin Hickey Law Blog on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).